Making the fiscal showdown constructive

CORPUS CHRISTI - Recently, Texas' senior U.S. Sen. John Cornyn argued that a partial government shutdown might be justified to try to restore some fiscal sanity to Washington, D.C. I tend to agree with him if it is done at the right time.

There is a belief that Republicans should fight the president tooth and nail on every budget issue between now and the new deadlines in March. I, however, don't think that another fight over raising the debt ceiling is worth it. The President and media have led us to believe that the debt ceiling is the "be all end all" of fiscal cliffs. If it's not raised, all kinds of financial Armageddon will envelope this country. That is overblown. The government would still have money coming in, just not enough to meet every spending obligation, and they wouldn't be able to borrow to make up the difference.

I think that we need a new focus on what's really going to make a difference: the continuing resolution. Unfortunately, the continuing resolution has, by default, become the federal budget. That is where the spending decisions are made and that is where the fight should be focused.

Our first priority must be controlling federal spending. Without that control, we can't get to anything else. The future of our tax structure and entitlement programs all rest on controlling federal spending and vice versa.

I would urge the president and the new Congress to start working together now to avoid such a draconian measure as a partial government shutdown. Unfortunately, given the history of this administration, that's not too likely to happen. We can't tax our way out of this dilemma. We need serious spending cuts, future spending restraint and real long-term reform of our entitlement programs.

President Obama should be looking at this second term as a way to cement his legacy. I would think saving entitlement programs, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, for generations to come, by making the hard decisions now to make those programs fiscally sound would be a legacy anyone would be proud of.

These programs can be saved and our government spending can be controlled, and we can do it without new taxes. There are leaders in Congress who have good ideas on how to prioritize spending that will bring fiscal restraint, keep taxes in line and still save these entitlement programs, and the federal government in general, from financial ruin.

I would say this to members on both sides of the aisle: it can no longer be "my way or the highway." We have run out of money, and the American people are running out of patience. We need to solve these problems. I have to believe there are still some people with the political courage to do the right thing over the politically easy thing.

While I'm saying that we should increase the debt ceiling and focus the fight on the continuing resolutions, I am not in favor of an unlimited debt ceiling increase. I think that we should move to cut the budget by the same dollar amount that we increase the debt ceiling this time. That will mean significant budget cuts over time, and the only way to achieve that kind of savings will be long-term, permanent, changes in how our entitlement programs are funded and managed.

Is getting this kind of long-term change worth a partial government shutdown? Yes, but the point is that it doesn't, and shouldn't, have to come to that point. All sides must realize that the economy can't support the current spending levels of the federal government. This recovery will end very quickly if that spending isn't controlled, or if taxes are continually being raised.